[jogiba]

I hate to say it, but probably. Some of the hacks for this camera are just insane. It's too early to tell. I think the K-01 has a lot of potential. We'll see if there aren't some great firmware update in the pipeline or if it draws some great community hacking support.

Vitaliy_Kiselev who done the GH2 hack is very interested in the K-01 !

His remarks on the hack forum :

Other good thing is $749 MSRP (or 40mm kit $899, so pancake will be really cheap)

Most probably will be good compliment to my Pentax cameras, as I have bunch of Pentax glass.
I think it is cool.

And looking at the specs it support all lenses. So, it'll AF with screwdrive lenses. Without any adapter. Right now Pentax continue famous compatibility.

I really do not care about video much here (but if Pentax will be using same firmware coding as in K-5 it'll be hackable, as my tool supports almost all present Pentax cameras). For me screw drive and, good sensor, good screen are enough. Sony class EVF could be good, but price will be much larger.

It is not small because it uses SLR lenses. And if you ask me it is the best solution for Pentax.

I care about Pentax :-)

Pentax K-01 Digital Mirrorless - Personal View Talks

[FullertonImages]

Will he PLEASE hack the K-5! If I could have the K-5 with manual controls and 24p, plus the K-01, I would in heaven. But I can only assume we will be seeing a super mega awesome replacement for the K-5 before long.

[FullertonImages]

Yes we all know the GH2 is one of the current cult video cameras.

Dont confuse "current" with "next"

No one is confusing that. But what we're saying is that the K-01 as is, won't be enough to dethrone the GH2 in it's hacked status. It's just too capable. If the K-01 were to become hacked as well, or opened up in firmware some more, that could really change things.

[Samuel H]

they could be cult cameras for different reasons:
* GH2: resolution and detail
* K01: dynamic range and tonal range

but we still have to make sure this camera is as good as the K5 - in the video presentation in the boxing place, they say it's a different sensor - if it's the same as in the NEX-5N, that's one stop of DR gone out the window
DxOMark - Compare cameras side by side

[virgilr]

Speaking of hacks- if there were pure HDMI output from the sensor with no intervening compression (obviously running live, not from playback) then we'd be cooking: throw in a ATOMOS Ninja 2.0 for ~$1,000 bucks and you've got 4:2:2 footage! I know that isn't likely to happen... that sort of feature has shown up on the Nikon D800 (live HDMI output) at $3,000, I imagine Pentax would hold back a feature like that for a more "pro" model camera, but sheesh- could make for tons of sales to the videographer market!

Update- seen a couple posts that seem to be indicating their is live HDMI output on the K-01: not sure if it's valid info, but that would rock... hopefully it's at least 4:2:2 (4:4:4 would like, rock the world!).

Post on videomaker.com

[Samuel H]

* live HDMI doesn't mean clean HDMI, going by what they say over there, it may have info overlays aplenty
* I always prefer in-camera recording
* Pentax has been very open with the launch of this camera, giving it to users to test and post their impressions around the web - it would be very wise from them to be moderately open too with regards to firmware: give the hackers just about enough to work with and a modest little camera can become a real monster (read: GH2)

[johnmflores]

* live HDMI doesn't mean clean HDMI, going by what they say over there, it may have info overlays aplenty
* I always prefer in-camera recording
* Pentax has been very open with the launch of this camera, giving it to users to test and post their impressions around the web - it would be very wise from them to be moderately open too with regards to firmware: give the hackers just about enough to work with and a modest little camera can become a real monster (read: GH2)

If all of this pans out, my beefy K-01 may beat up on my GH2 and take its lunch money!

[Samuel H]

one thing is clear: as a blunt object, it looks clearly superior to the GH2

[FullertonImages]

If this is true that it has a clean, uncompressed HDMI out, than this would shake up the market in huge ways. That would be amazingly awesome. Please be true!

[jogiba]

If you have K-mount lenses the GH2/K-01 combo are perfect together since the K-01 has the advantage of SR with all K-mount lenses and are native to it and the GH2 working great with low cost K-mount adapters with advanced video features like ETC 1:1 mode of 2.6x in 1080p30,25,24 /3.9x in 720p60 plus other advanced video features. The GH2 also has special lenses not available in K-mount like the Voigtländer Nokton 25mm f/0.95.

[RonHendriks1966]

Vitaliy_Kiselev who done the GH2 hack is very interested in the K-01 !

His remarks on the hack forum :

Pentax K-01 Digital Mirrorless - Personal View Talks

would be cool

[johnmflores]

If this is true that it has a clean, uncompressed HDMI out, than this would shake up the market in huge ways. That would be amazingly awesome. Please be true!

I'm trying not to get my hopes up. For me, the "tell" is that there's no way to monitor audio. If they had done that (like the new Nikon D800 I hear), that would have been a clear sign that this camera is meant to be Pentax's serious play into video. Without audio monitoring, this is not a "serious" video solution.

Then again, maybe the clean, uncompressed HDMI out is also carrying audio...

[liukaitc]

some people saying DR from k-5 in video is better than gh2
I think that is not true..the DR from k-5 in video is very different story from photo.
There was a test I saw online, d7000 (same sensor as k-5) has similar DR compare to 5d markII and gh2 which are all within 10-11 stop range. so we won't see the amazing DR from that 16mp sensor in video than in photo..

[Samuel H]

bummer: the bitrate seems rather low, around 21 Mbps: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-k-01-forum/174006-hands-photos-k-0...ml#post1818161

unless this thing gets hacked, or the final spec is a lot better (at least 24 or 28 Mbps), you can forget about "next cult video camera"

[jogiba]

Dan Chung is an award-winning photojournalist who made his name
shooting for The Guardian newspaper in the UK. In recent years he has
shifted his focus away from still imaging and towards video.

'No Future in Photojournalism' Interview: Dan Chung: Digital Photography Review



Canon DSLRs have no EVF just like the K-01.